Presented by: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Presented by:

Darlene Wells

Tius Mccowin

Holly Luna

Kelsi Mcdonald

Lee Dougal

Lauren HamptonSlide2

Introduction

English is a rich language, one that has constantly been expanded and groomed as each generation of immigrants have come to our country. If you were to go on a journey around our nation from the north to the south and from the east to the west, examining the language and its dialects what would you find? The authors of “Do You Speak American” set out to answer this interesting question and what they found along the way was a thriving language as diverse as the people who speak it.

The following presentation summarizes four of the chapters and observations from their travels.

Southern English - This Ain’t Your Mama’s South Anymore

Hispanic Immigration : Reconquest or Assimilation

Black English - Bad-mouthing Black English

English in Technology - Teaching Computers to Speak AmericanSlide3

This Ain’t Your Mama’s South Anymore

(Generational)Slide4

The South has become the largest dialect area in the United States. More Americans now “speak Southern” than speak any other regional dialect.

Working from census figures as well as linguistic data, linguistic John Fought calculates that the Inland Southern dialect overtook Inland Northern in the past twenty years.

Recent changes in the Southern dialect include disappearance of “r”-less pronunciation, and vowel changes (shame to shime, pen to pin).Slide5

The Ohio River

“A linguistic frontier” (loc 1006)

The traditional border between Northern and Southern speechSlide6

The Ohio River (continued)

“Bleedover e fect”

In the days when few people crossed the big river, there were more distinct differences in the two dialects.

With modern bridges and roads the amount of language contact has grown and the two dialects have merged.Slide7

Appalachians

The southern side of the Ohio River was settled primarily by Scots-Irish, who came overland through the

Appalachians

.

The Appalachian dialect in its purest, mountain usage is dying out, but it is being reborn in a new way as it is absorbing other Southern dialects or accents.

You can hear its influence all over the United States, especially in “CB Slang” (the lingo of truckers on their CB radios). Slide8

Texas

Flat “I” (ah) – like the badge of Texas

Glories in wild metaphors and exaggerated similes (

catty wompus, dag nab it, all swole up, meaner than a skillet full of rattlesnakes

)

Even as it travels, Texas speech is changing. While newcomers are adopting “Texanisms”, urban natives are abandoning some.

Dropping pen/pin similarity

Rural Texans still say “tin cints”, while urban Texans do notSlide9

The South has been hugely energized since it, for the most part, outgrew white resistance to black equality.

Southern states are among the fastest-growing in the country

The speech of Texas, New Orleans, and the rest of the South is proof that television is not driving Americans into speaking one uniform national dialect.Slide10
Slide11

Hispanic Immigration

Reconquest or Assimilation?Slide12

According to the authors, 27% of New York’s 8 million inhabitants are Hispanic

Local culture and schools override heritage.

Wave after wave of immigrants to the United States have enriched the language.

At the turn of the century 1 in 10 Americans were speaking German, same as today with Spanish.Slide13

Of all the second languages spoken in the U.S. Spanish is more useful for businesses – NY Times.

In one decade 1990-2000, New York increased from 17 million to 28 million Spanish speaking homes.

Statistically, by the second and third generations of immigrants of days gone by, almost all spoke English as their native language. Slide14

Will this be the case with Spanish speaking immigrants?

By July 2002 38.8 million people were Hispanic or Latino (census uses both terms).

60% were born in the United States, and it is estimated that 1 in 5 residents of the U.S. will be Hispanic by 2020.Slide15
Slide16

In the larger districts of many major cities and in several small towns as well, it is possible to live and never speak English.

The U.S. has seen a major increase in Hispanic radio and television stations, 665 radio and 252 by 2002.

From 1990 to 2002 the number of Spanish newspapers jumped from 355 to 652. Many are major newspapers in the U.S. who print two versions of the same paper, one in English and one in Spanish.Slide17
Slide18

In Laredo Texas, Spanish is the cities spoken language.

The fact that so many residents of the United States speak Spanish led a leading literary figure of Mexico, Carlos Fuentes to declare there is a “silent reconquista of the United States.”

In 1999 the acting mayor of El Cenizo a border town in Texas, declared Spanish the town’s official language, in hopes of encouraging residents to pay their taxes and help fund the ailing cities needs. This move sparked strong reactions from English firsters. Slide19

Linguists find in three generations Spanish is gone from the household, 50% by the second generation and 100% by the third.

Spanish speaking immigrants are assimilating at the same generational rate as immigrants from before.Slide20

Mexican immigrants are coming to the United States by land border, something not common to immigrants of the past, that came by boat in waves and whose language was assimilated in the same three generations. Due to the large amount and steady flow of immigrants the linguists believe the perception that Spanish is taking over is skewed.Slide21

According to the U.S. Census in 1990 the number children ages 5 to 17 who spoke only English were 108,885. By 2000 that same group totaled 148,596 a jump of 36 percent.

Likewise, in 1990 for the same age group surveyed, found that 48,188 Spanish speakers said they spoke fluent English as well. By 2000 the number was 54,230 a jump of 12%.Slide22

Originally used to talk in code in front of white slave owners

Urban black culture has a big influence on white American culture

music: ragtime, jazz, the blues, soul, rock n roll

Limiting their prospects for house, jobs and education

BLACK ENGLISH